Many disputes over physician choice in workers’ compensation arise when an injured worker seeks treatment from a doctor of his or her own choosing. Hayes v. Christian Retirement Homes, Inc.,...
Iowa Supreme Court: Employer Not Bound by Opinion of Its Own Treating Physician Iowa Supreme Court: Employer Not Bound by Opinion of Its Own Treating PhysicianCourt Applies Massachusetts Law to Maine Injury, Rejects Immunity Defense in Multi-State Staffing Arrangement A New Hampshire contractor that likely would have enjoyed workers’ compensation immunity under Maine law lost...
Maine Supreme Court: Massachusetts Law Strips Staffing Client of Workers’ Compensation Immunity Maine Supreme Court: Massachusetts Law Strips Staffing Client of Workers’ Compensation ImmunityNew York’s Court of Appeals recently affirmed an Appellate Division order blocking defendants in a personal injury action from using a Workers’ Compensation Board causation determination as collateral estoppel, holding...
NY High Court Holds JIWA Bars Collateral Estoppel Effect of Pre-Enactment Workers’ Comp Decisions NY High Court Holds JIWA Bars Collateral Estoppel Effect of Pre-Enactment Workers’ Comp DecisionsIn a case involving a Nebraska truck driver-farm laborer whose treatment for metastatic cancer was allegedly postponed by complications associated with a compensable hip injury and its resulting treatment, the...
Nebraska Supreme Court Affirms Denial of Death Benefits Where Work Injury Delayed Cancer Treatment Nebraska Supreme Court Affirms Denial of Death Benefits Where Work Injury Delayed Cancer TreatmentCourt Discusses Important Distinction Between “Legal” and “Medical” Causation Stepping lightly through the difficult mine field of “legal causation,” a Utah appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Labor...
Utah Court: Unusual Exertion Required if Claimant Has Preexisting Condition Utah Court: Unusual Exertion Required if Claimant Has Preexisting ConditionEmployee Had Clocked Out and Traveled Six Stops Toward His Home Where a New York City subway train cleaner clocked out at the end of his shift, left his assigned...
Assault on NYC Subway Employee Exiting Train Did Not Occur In Course of Employment Assault on NYC Subway Employee Exiting Train Did Not Occur In Course of EmploymentCourt Nevertheless Reverses and Remands Board’s Decision That Had Awarded Benefits The Court of Appeals of Oregon recently reiterated that a mere susceptibility or predisposition that does not contribute to...
Oregon Court Reiterates that “Susceptible to” Does Not Equate with “Preexisting Condition” Oregon Court Reiterates that “Susceptible to” Does Not Equate with “Preexisting Condition”Recent Decisions Reach Opposite Conclusions in Dog-Tripping Incidents According to a recent report published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as many as 22 percent of the American labor force...
Home-Based Workers: Beware of Four-Legged “Best Friends” Home-Based Workers: Beware of Four-Legged “Best Friends”On Tuesday of this week, the Supreme Court of Rhode Island affirmed a determination by a state trial court that granted summary judgment, on exclusive remedy grounds [see R.I. Gen....
Rhode Island’s Exclusive Remedy Rule Shields Worker Who Engaged in Dangerous Horseplay Rhode Island’s Exclusive Remedy Rule Shields Worker Who Engaged in Dangerous HorseplayIn an unusual case that illustrates Virginia’s restrictive “arising out of the employment” test, a state appellate court yesterday affirmed the denial of workers’ compensation benefits to a former police...
Virginia Police Officer’s Slip and Fall While Trying to Get Out of Pouring Rain is Not Compensable Virginia Police Officer’s Slip and Fall While Trying to Get Out of Pouring Rain is Not CompensableAn Ohio appellate court has refused to require a claimant seeking PTD benefits to deliver a signed, unlimited medical release to the employer [State ex rel. Costco Wholesale Corp. v....
Ohio Employer Not Entitled to Unlimited Medical Release Ohio Employer Not Entitled to Unlimited Medical ReleaseIn a second recent case construing the effects of Kan. Stat. Ann. § 44-523(f)(1), which, according to the first such case, Glaze v. Williams, 2019 Kan. LEXIS 75 (Apr. 19,...
Kansas High Court Says Amendment to “Failure to Move Forward” Statute Applies Retroactively Kansas High Court Says Amendment to “Failure to Move Forward” Statute Applies RetroactivelyDivided Kansas Supreme Court Argues Over Workers’ Comp Act’s “Failure to Move Forward” Statute In a divided decision, the Supreme Court of Kansas held that Kan. Stat. Ann. § 44-523(f)(1)...
What’s In A Comma? What’s In A Comma?A commercial truck driver, who sustained injuries during an unpaid pre-employment drive test that consisted of an actual delivery for the prospective employer, was not a “worker,” as that term...
Oregon Supreme Court: Minimum Wage Law May Not Be Used to Determine Claimant’s Status as “Worker” Oregon Supreme Court: Minimum Wage Law May Not Be Used to Determine Claimant’s Status as “Worker”Court Says Board Mischaracterized Videotape Surveillance Evidence A New York appellate court reversed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that disqualified a claimant from receiving future wage replacement...
NY Court Reverses Board’s Decision to Disqualify Claimant From Future Benefits NY Court Reverses Board’s Decision to Disqualify Claimant From Future Benefits45-Year Employee Did Not Face Similar Risk in Non-Employment Life A Missouri appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Labor and Industrial Relations Commission that awarded workers’ compensation benefits...
Missouri Court Affirms Award for Fall in Employer’s Parking Garage Missouri Court Affirms Award for Fall in Employer’s Parking Garage
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